River Trips Provide History

Mike Hurd gives tours of the Willamette

A Harrisburg business owner is providing jet boat tours of the Willamette River from a perspective only a local could provide. Mike Hurd is the owner of Scenic Jet Boat Tours and Hurd’s Hardware and Custom Machinery in Harrisburg, just 30 minutes north of Eugene. “I grew up just a mile from the river and always enjoyed fishing and hunting around the river,” he says. Now Hurd gives tours of the Willamette on his 22-foot-long aluminum North River sled.  Continue reading 

Cannabis Changes the Game of Real Estate

Local businesses worry the cannanbis industry is edging them out.

Local businesses worry the cannanbis industry is edging them out. While Oregon may still be the new kid on the legalization block, the two states that beat us to the punch, Washington and Colorado, might have a lesson or two to teach us about what’s to come. There’s no doubt that states have benefited financially from taxing the recently legalized industry and are looking at dramatic declines in crime rates, according to a 2015 study by the Drug Policy Alliance. Continue reading 

Understanding Superdelegates

The role of superdelegates in choosing presidential candidates

Senator Jeff Merkley

As the U.S. nears the end of the 2016 primary election season, it is more important than ever to understand the role of superdelegates in choosing presidential candidates.  Most Democratic delegates are pledged to a particular candidate based on the outcomes of their state’s primary election or caucuses, but superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination at the party’s national convention.  Continue reading 

Coasters Test for Date Rape Drugs

Can coasters that test for date rape drugs help solve the University of Oregon’s sexual assault problem? Or are they a drop in the bucket of a larger institutional issue?  The Courtside and Skybox apartments teamed up with local medical supply company Med-Tech Resource to provide current and potential residents with coasters that test for the date rape drugs ketamine and gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB), says property manager Sandra Coombs.  The coasters are promotional material and designed to raise awareness of sexual assault in UO’s campus community. Continue reading 

County Looks at Spraying Roadsides with Herbicides

Lane County is considering changes to its longtime ban on spraying roadsides with chemicals.  The Lane County Vegetation Task Force proposes changing from the current “Roadside Vegetation Management and Last Resort Herbicide Use Policy” to the “Roadside Integrated Vegetation Management Plan” that takes into account using a limited amount of chemicals to control vegetation. Continue reading 

Eugene Solar Power Supplier Speaks At PIELC

Among the long list of speakers at the University of Oregon’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference is president and founder of Eugene-based Grape Solar, Ocean Yuan, who’s proven there’s a market for consumer solar panels.  The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC), open to the public, runs March 3-6 at the UO School of Law and features a variety of green-oriented keynote speakers, panels and films. Continue reading 

Bijou, UO Law School Host Enviro Film Fest

For the first time in its 43-year history, PIELC has organized a film festival

The annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) comes to the University of Oregon March 3-6. For the first time in its 43-year history, PIELC has organized a film festival to preview the conference at the Bijou Art Cinemas Feb. 25. Films will also play as part of the conference itself. “Almost all the films have a panel accompaniment with people involved in the films,” says PIELC co-director, Emily Hajarizadeh. “We chose to incorporate film this year because every year we receive massive amounts of submissions for films, and we haven’t had a space to show them.” Continue reading